This is good news, now we got to get it through the Texas house. Remember freedom is not free, When good men do nothing evil men prevail. Glenn. Now for the article.

House Bill Also on the Move!

Thanks to your phone calls and e-mails, the Texas Senate passed Senate Bill 321 by a 30 to 1 vote today with no gutting amendments. Introduced by state Senator Glenn Hegar (R-Katy), SB 321 is an NRA-backed bill that would prevent employers from enacting and enforcing policies to prohibit employees from storing firearms in their locked private motor vehicles while parked at work. Texas gun owners should not have to worry about being fired for lawfully storing a firearm in their personal vehicle should they choose to carry a handgun for self-defense during their daily commutes or to transport firearms to and from their hunting leases or local shooting ranges.

State Senator Leticia Van de Putte (D-San Antonio) offered a floor amendment which would have required employees of companies employing more than 10,000 workers at one location to notify their employer of their desire to store firearms in their cars while parked at work. During the debate, it was made clear that the only company who would have benefitted from this “mandatory notice provision” was USAA, based in her district in San Antonio . Ironically, USAA serves insurance clients who are military personnel or dependents of such! The amendment was tabled by a 22 to 8 vote. After that overwhelming outcome, no other amendments were offered which would have exempted certain industry sectors from the bill, namely, defense contractors such as Raytheon, Boeing, Bell Helicopter, BAE Systems, Lockheed and L-3, who were lobbying for exclusion from the bill.

SB 321 will now move to the state House for consideration – we will keep you posted on further action items once it receives a committee referral in that chamber. The fight is not over! These companies will continue to fight for notice requirements and exemptions in the House, so be aware of where they stand and be prepared to direct calls and e-mails into House offices in opposition to such requirements and industry “carve-outs”.

Also, on Monday, the House Business & Industry Committee voted out House Bill 681, the House companion bill to SB 321 sponsored by state Representative Tim Kleinschmidt (R-Lexington). This measure now moves to the House Calendars Committee, which has full authority to determine if and when the bill gets set for consideration by the full House. It will take the balance of this week for the bill to “officially” move to Calendars. We will keep you posted on any necessary action items on this bill in the near future.